Texas State’s Innovation Week kicked off Sept. 24 with a College of Liberal Arts showcase featuring faculty research and inviting students to engage in conversation.
Texas State’s Common Experience theme for 2018-19 is innovation, “as a means to engage students, faculty, staff and the community in the ideas and opportunities that will shape our future,” according to the Common Experience website.
Thirty-one liberal arts professors presented across campus to explain their research and give undergraduate students an interactive experience on topics ranging from constructing and deconstructing community and generational well-being.
Aimee Roundtree, associate dean for research and promotion, said the day amplified student involvement by avoiding lectures and instead inviting students to talk one-on-one with faculty.
“It is important to highlight advances we are making in the humanities and social sciences and human inquiry,” Roundtree said. “What we do in (liberal arts) is complementary and equally important to work in technology. With the advancement of technology, we awaken new ethical issues and dilemmas and it is important to understand those things from a human and societal perspective.”
Roundtree said it is important for researchers to be public scholars to foster expertise and information for global problems.
Nicole Taylor, associate professor of anthropology, presented her research on how students interact with social media as a part of the event.
“The value this research has is the fact young people spend so much time on social media but (researchers) really do not understand what it looks like,” Taylor said. “What is seen in the popular media is there is a lot of angst about young people on social media by parents, educators and the general public. What we are finding is it is a much more nuanced picture of understanding the ways social media is enhancing their lives and holding them back.”
Taylor said the research will be presented to invite conversations with students by matching social media posts with the perceived amount of likes received and the identification of popular catchphrases to unpack meaning.
Lauren Fulenwider, psychology sophomore and attendee at Innovation in the College of Liberal Arts New Perspectives on Gender and Race, said the topics of the sessions were highly interesting.
“I attended because I’m always open to gaining new perspectives and I always want to be open-minded,” Fulenwider said.
The Common Experience program brought the authors of “The Runaway Species,” this year’s Common Experience book, to campus Sept. 24. and will bring Jose Hernandez Sept. 25 as the LBJ Distinguished Lecturer. Texas State departments will be hosting events, lectures and exhibitions for Innovation Week. The full schedule can be found at www.txstate.edu/commonexperience/events/innovation-week.html.